(Sorry, I've forgotten where I originally heard this concept, but...)
The Wile E. Coyote Moment is about realizing we're wrong, and how, up until that moment, being wrong feels exactly like being right.
Wile E. Coyote doesn't know he's wrong when he first runs off the cliff, but he is. He thinks he's running on the ground, but he isn't. Oops. Long fall, painful landing.
So, here we are, trying to deal with the Mormons in our lives, trying to help them see they're wrong about the church. But they're still at the stage where being wrong feels exactly like being right. They aren't even at the stage where the data is reaching their brains that their feet are no longer slapping a hard surface. Or, if that data IS starting to get through, the part of their brains that processes that data and gives it meaning isn't ready to accept the implications -- a long fall and painful landing. No no no no, if they just move their feet faster...
Too bad we aren't the Roadrunner, with its ability to stop in mid air and wait for the TBM Wile E. Coyotes to finally figure things out.
It was from a TED talk. I can't remember the female presenter's name, but it was fascinating. The title was something along the lines of "being wrong".
And you're right. TBMs don't ever think they're wrong - it's unthinkable. But only once we discover we're wrong can we learn new and exciting things that we had been afraid of before.
"And to me, if you really want to rediscover wonder, you need to step outside of that tiny, terrified space of rightness and look around at each other and look out at the vastness and complexity and mystery of the universe and be able to say, 'Wow, I don't know. Maybe I'm wrong.'"